Ushinatta Omoide no Uta
by EtherealShadow
Summary: He was never meant to take the holly from her. She was never meant to leave that place. But life goes on, and all is swept into the past. But some things are not meant to be forgotten, and the song of the Manor is ever hard to resist.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Yay, Fatal Frame. Yay, second ending (there will be no sooting of the Kei-emo-thing, no, no, no). This takes place after FFIII if you had not guessed, and… not much else to say. On with the first chapter, then.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fatal Frame, nor any of the characters and specific occurrences associated with it. But you already knew that. ;)

* * *

"It's raining again." The soft words proved completely unnecessary, for not only was Rei looking out her patio window, but lightning flashed and thunder boomed in the sky, making Ruri hiss and glare at the two women as though it were their fault that God was venting his frustration on the world. That, or he was bowling- Yuu had announced that to her on their first date when their plans for a picnic had been ruined but a storm akin to this one. At that time, Rei had simply stared at him like he was mad, but it was something that she always remembered when thunder sounded in the sky.

Miku leaned down and consoled the cat, sighing slightly. "Yeah," Rei said in response to her comment, a large piece of her wishing that Miku would never utter those words together in that manner so long as the moon continued to revolve around the earth. She had heard them enough over those long days and nights.

Rei hated the rain. She was determined not to, determined to see the bright side of it, like their first date, but all she could taste was the bittersweet, and there was an awful lot more bitter than there was sweet. Even still, she forced something of a smile onto her face, for it would do no good to dwell in the past. She had been doing far too much of that, really.

It was time, past time, to move on. She knew it. Everyone else knew it, even if they were too polite to say it to her face. But putting thought into action was not as easy as some liked to proclaim.

"Miku-chan! Have you seen my slippers, the ones with the butterflies on them?" Both women turned to look at the second floor landing as a voice drifted down to them, Rei letting the curtains fall back into place.

Miku shook her head. "Sorry, I haven't seen them."

"Bleh. Thanks anyway." Mio pulled a face and made to go back to the room that she and Miku shared, stopping in mid-turn as the door to the front area of the house opened and Kei stepped through, running his hand through his hair.

Rei felt the corners of her lips twitch as she glanced down to find that the man had smushed his feet into a certain set of slippers that were far too small for him. "What?" Kei demanded at their stares, with irritability that Rei knew was false. She said nothing, waiting for the girl above to see what she had.

Sure enough, within moments Mio had leaned far enough over the banister to see her maligned slippers. "Kei!" she cried. "You're smashing them!"

"Well, I couldn't find mine."

"You didn't wear them into the _toilet_?"

Kei's silence was apparently answer enough for the teenager, for she stomped down the staircase and over to them, placing her hands on her hips and glaring in a way that made Rei think that Mio was not really very upset after all. Kei dutifully removed the slippers from his feet (stretched slightly larger than they had been before his commandeering of them) and gave them back.

The smile on Rei's lips turned to something more real at the sight of everyone. She was still not quite sure how everyone had come to live in her house, in such a short amount of time nonetheless, but move in the two Amakura family members had. One day Kei had brought his niece over to introduce her, and the next it seemed as though Mio and Miku had been friends all their lives. They began spending more and more time in Rei's home, even spending the night occasionally, and then all of a sudden they just lived with her. All the noise and commotion was actually nice, a far cry from what the house had been like before with only Rei and Miku to fill it. It finally seemed alive, decorated, unpacked, and truly a home that Rei and the others felt welcome in.

It was what Yuu would have wanted.

The house did look much better, as a matter of fact. There were no more boxes shoved in random closets; the walls actually bore decoration, masses of picture frames of the photographs that all of them had been taking. Mio, as it turned out, also had some interest in photography, and Rei had begun by teaching only Miku more advanced techniques but soon had another charge as well. Not all of the pictures on the wall were actually all that good, but as the girls improved, the pictures in the frames seemed to magically vanish to be replaced by better ones (or at least, by ones that were more liked at that particular moment). Kei often warningly joked that if there was an earthquake the mile of glass hanging on the hallway walls was doomed, but that did not prevent any of them from continuing to plaster them with photos of random trees, clouds, Ruri, pillows, flowers, chairs, and all manner of other things. An especially large photograph hung over the creepy stain in the back hallway. Rei and Miku had spent an unnerving hour trying to scrub it from the wall (it did not lighten in color so much as a shade), paint over it (the paint kept refusing to sink in), and trying to tear the wallpaper off (it would not budge, and Rei and Miku had each had lost a fingernail to it). Finally Rei had gone out and purchased a landscape print of Mt. Fuji and the surrounding area which they hung over the screaming face. It improved the hallway a bit, but Rei still did not much care for it and generally refused to look at that wall more than was absolutely necessary.

The room arrangement in the house had also changed. Rei had finally gathered the courage to deal with Yuu's belongings and had moved into his old room; Kei had then taken hers for himself and the girls, with the addition of another bed, shared the third. It seemed to be working well, not only the rooms but the relationships between all of them. Kei seemed to know exactly when she needed to be alone and kept his niece out of her way, and she tried to do the same with Miku for him in turn. Even still, there were no fights, no unpleasant feelings between them at all. Soon after the day that Kei and Mio had appeared lugging their suitcases and boxes in tow Rei had wondered why they all seemed to be linked together so. Miku had suggested quietly that it was what all of them had been through that made it so much easier for them to each deal with the memories of the past together.

That did not make it all that much easier. Never whole again, after such a loss, and they had suffered more than their share. But life went on, and there they stood, all with a small and silent smile for the others in times of need.

"Rei-san?"

Rei snapped back to reality from her thoughts and looked at Miku. "Sorry, what?"

The younger girl smiled. "I said, we should go out for dinner today. The weather is so nice, don't you think?"

Rei shot a look at Kei, who simply shook his head in amusement and smiled almost imperceptibly. "Sure," she agreed. "Sounds good to me."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Well, here is chapter two, I'm glad that people are enjoying this. Onward, ho!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fatal Frame (unfortunately).

* * *

Rain was falling on the one year anniversary of his death.

Kei had taken the girls out for a while so that she could be alone; Rei had carefully planned all engagements so that this day was left free. She had donned clothing and umbrella and gone out into the rain to visit his grave, but very soon after she had arrived she had turned right back around and come home, opting for a roof and her memories instead of cold stone and water.

She did not like being in the rain.

But it was more than that. The altar at home seemed so much more… close, somehow. As though when she was kneeling before it with candles lit and incense drifting around her head and his picture, he was there looking back at her with that smile of his that was small and only for her, with his eyes that glittered when he looked into hers.

Try as she might, she could not keep the tears from flowing. She sobbed and sobbed, crying for what was and what was never to be, pouring her grief out in a torrent stronger than the one that fell outside. "It's not fair," she whispered through her tears, over and over again. "It's not fair. It's not fair. It's not fair." _I'm not strong like you. Yuu, why did you have to leave me all alone? Why? It's not fair! Yuu!_

Rei clung to the altar as though it were Yuu himself as her body and mind screamed her anguish, not even caring when one of the candles toppled, spilling hot wax onto her fingers. Hours she knelt there, heedless of her own discomfort, at the end clutching the picture of Yuu to her chest as she cried herself to sleep where she sat.

Rei had no idea what it actually was that awoke her soon after she had fallen into a dreamless sleep. She simply suddenly snapped awake, gazing around her blearily. An inexplicable shiver suddenly wracked her thin body and Rei wrapped her arms around herself, drawing in a breath in an attempt to reorient herself even as her back prickled. She knew exactly what this feeling was, but she refused point-blank to admit it to herself.

Even as Rei was in the process of convincing herself that it was not what she thought it was a crash and the sound of shattering glass sounded, quite near to her, from the hallway outside the living room. Rei whirled around with a gasp, trying to calm her wildly beating heart. "It was just a picture falling, that's all," she murmured to herself. Kei had warned her about that in the past. Shaky even though she knew what the noise had been, she forced herself to stand, a groan escaping her lips as her stiff body protested the sudden movements. Still clutching the beloved picture for her fiancée, Rei hesitantly poked her head around the corner.

The picture that had crashed to the ground happened to be none other than the one covering the stain on the wall. Without so much as glancing at the stain Rei transferred Yuu to her left hand and threaded her way through the broken glass so she could reach down and pick up Mt. Fuji with the other. She carefully turned the heavy frame around, frowning as she saw that it was all completely intact- there was no reason that the picture should have fallen. Only once her inspection of the picture was complete did Rei look up at the wall.

Yuu and Mt. Fuji crashed to the ground at exactly the same moment, though the sound of Yuu's protective covering breaking was masked by the short scream that tore itself from Rei's throat. She flattened her back against the wall next to the door to her darkroom, trying to hyperventilate and keep from breathing all in one, with a result of something in between. Her horrified eyes could not tear themselves from the stain no matter how much she wanted to curl up into a little ball and hide from what she saw.

What had once been an unknown man's face screaming on her wall was now Yuu. Yuu, his beauty vanished, screaming, screaming, eyes glaring at her accusingly, blaming her for his pain. Yuu, his features twisted into a mockery of the face in the picture that lay forgotten at Rei's feet, eternally tormenting agony etched in every line of the man that Rei knew so well.

No. She did not know him like this. Never like this.

With something akin to a strangled gasp she fled, sock-clad feet crunching though the shards that lay scattered on the hardwood floor. Pain flared, but she ignored it, plowing through the door and into the living room with force enough to make the door crash into the wall. She ran, pounding up the stairs and nearly going to Kei's room before she remembered that she now inhabited Yuu's room. Into the correct bedroom she scampered, slamming the door behind her. Rei dove onto the bed and pulled the covers fully over her head before she allowed herself to give in to the sobs that once again wracked her body and made her heart ache.

* * *

The three of them were quiet as they entered their home, respectful of the fact that Rei was suffering, today more than normal. As a matter of fact, the girls had been fairly quiet all day long, and Kei had not felt much inclined to speak overmuch himself. They had gone to see a movie together, some silly romance that Kei had nearly fallen asleep in. The two teenagers had seemed to enjoy it enough while it was playing, but once the distraction had ended, all of them returned to their depressing thoughts.

Kei was the last in the door, sighing as he placed his shoes on the rack and put on his indoor slippers. Mio and Miku had already gone into the kitchen area, quietly discussing what to eat for dinner. Other than the noise the pair of them made, Kei heard nothing from any part of the house.

Figuring Rei was simply still kneeling before Yuu's altar in silence, Kei glanced down the hall as he passed, unwilling to bother her. There were a couple of dark spots on the floor, and he stopped to frown as he looked at them. Kei hesitantly walked to the first, only a couple of feet away from where he stood, and knelt down to observe them more carefully. His heart thumped uncomfortably as he realized that the splotches were blood smeared onto the floorboards.

His gaze stretched farther down the hall toward Rei's darkroom, following the path they made. Abruptly Kei rose, attempting to keep quiet as he approached the unused living room though worry began to prick at him. What if Rei was hurt? What if something strange had happened? What if-

Kei relaxed slightly as he peeked into the room to find that the space before the altar was empty. He deflated, releasing a breath that he had not even realized that he had been holding. The altar seemed undisturbed, and Kei made to turn away before something- or rather, lack of something- caught his eye. He inspected the altar again, realizing with a jolt that Yuu's picture was gone.

He approached until he stood before it, looking with a frown at the spot where the photograph ought to have been and the candle that had been overturned. Confused but figuring that Rei had an explanation, he turned, once again stopped by the sight of something odd on the floor, again close to the darkroom. Pieces of glass caught the light, and there was what looked like a picture frame on the ground.

Growing more wary by the step, Kei walked over and squatted down, picking up the small picture frame and turning it over to reveal Yuu, bits of glass sticking out from underneath the frame here and there, distorting his image slightly. Concern pierced Kei; Rei would not have left Yuu down here like this, not on her life. Something had to have happened.

His eyes traveled to the other picture that lay on the ground, immediately meriting a glance up at that awful stain. It looked just the same as ever, perhaps a little bit larger around the edges, but that could simply have been his imagination. The blood led away from it and down the hall the way he had come, just little spots here and there, sudged as though it had been smeared by feet.

The thought of the blood worried him anew, and Kei jumped to his feet, Yuu still in hand, and rushed toward the bedrooms. Mio jumped as he crashed through the door into the living room, looking at him with surprise. Miku glanced over from her position in the kitchen, the same expression on her face.

"Are you all right?" Mio asked, looking slightly worried.

"Have you seen Rei?" Kei demanded.

Both girls shook their heads. "Isn't she at the altar?" Miku asked, resuming her stirring, though her eyes did not leave him. Kei shook his head.

"Maybe she's asleep," Mio suggested.

"I hope so," Kei muttered, heading for the stairs. Actually, a large part of him did _not_ want her to be sleeping, not with all that sleep had brought them in the past. Unfortunately, it seemed to be a rather necessary bodily function, and there was nothing they could do about that. Even still, Kei much preferred Rei awake, especially during the day.

He crept down the hall to her room and tapped lightly on the door. When he got no response he opened it a crack, trying to catch sight of Rei though he knew full well that the bed was not visible with the door half open. "Rei?" he asked quietly, walking fully inside.

Still nothing.

She was asleep, then. Resisting the temptation to wake her, he padded softly over to the bed and stood, watching the back of her head for a long moment, darker spots on the pillowcase that he had no doubt were from tears sticking out from underneath her black hair. He gently set Yuu down on the table and walked out of the room, shutting the door softly behind him, feeling completely useless and hurting for Yuu and Rei and all of them at the same time.

* * *

Rei listened as the door shut and Kei's footsteps retreated down the hallway. She squeezed her eyes shut and turned her face into the pillow, hands squeezing it, though it brought her no comfort. She wanted to cry again, but the tears were all long gone and she could produce no more. Her throat ached with the effort of trying to cry and trying not to all at once, and she simply whimpered.

It had been her imagination, she knew that, it had to have been her imagination. She was distressed over Yuu, had not been eating or sleeping well again over the past week, and she had simply imagined it. A waking dream, nothing more.

She just wished that Yuu was there to fight the waking dreams with her. Yuu, who, despite his words, despite _her_ words, would never really be with her again.

_Yuu_…


End file.
